HONG KONG - Gambling giant Melco Resorts has walked away from its plan to take a bigger stake in James Packer's casino group, Crown Resorts, in Australia.
While Melco believes Crown has world-class assets that are complementary to its global business, it is Melco’s belief that, at this time, its capital needs to be deployed on its core assets,
Melco said it had decided not to go ahead with a deal to buy another bundle of shares in Crown from Mr Packer because it needed to focus on its core business in Asia, which is being hit heavily by the coronavirus crisis.
Melco agreed in May last year to take a 19.9% stake in Crown, to be sold in two tranches of 9.99%.
The second tranche was put on hold after the New South Wales state gambling regulator launched a public inquiry into probity issues around Crown and Melco.
"While Melco believes Crown has world-class assets that are complementary to its global business, it is Melco’s belief that, at this time, its capital needs to be deployed on its core assets," the company said in a statement.
Lawrence Ho's Melco and Mr Packer's Crown operated a casino joint venture in Macau for 12 years until Crown ended the partnership in 2016.
The Crown Sydney and casino is set to open three months ahead of schedule in early 2021.
Located in Sydney’s Barangaroo dining precinct, 10 minutes’ walk from the city centre, the new hotel will feature 24-hour butler service, 327 rooms, 20 villas and two premium villas overlooking Sydney Harbour.